Austin Rios-Colón looking toward Butler Library at Columbia University. (Credit: Tinah Ogalo)
The modern-day renaissance man is an Ivy League cross-country runner whose talents go beyond the track. Columbia senior Austin Rios-Colón is breaking out of the student-athlete mold to forge his own path.
During a summer internship in Boston, Rios-Colón had an epiphany. He no longer had to fit into the self-imposed “mold” he imagined for himself. In the summer of 2024, while working as a research assistant for Alzheimer’s disease data analysis in a Harvard neuromotor control lab, he began to envision a new identity. One that didn’t just include Austin the Athlete, or Austin on the Pre-Med track, he could also be Austin the Musician.
From fourth to 12th grade, Rios-Colón was trained in violin. Already learning a string instrument, one day he decided to pick up the guitar. And it was during that transformative summer in New England, with encouragement from new friends, he began playing open mics.
Soon after, he released two songs on Spotify, “Shell” and “Maze.” The pop songs with folk and rock accents were at first a surprise to his Columbia teammates, but they offered quick support.
Brett Bishop, Rios-Colón’s friend and teammate since freshman year , recalls when “Shell” came out. Their teammates were blasting the song and singing along on the bus to celebrate the feat with Rios-Colon.
Bishop doesn’t consider himself a creative but admires his friend’s ambition to pursue more than just cross country, saying that hobbies can fulfill athletes in a way their respective sports can’t.
“ One caveat is that there are a lot of people, especially in running, whose life is the sport. Their life is focusing on what they can do to be one percent better, and those people benefit a lot from being able to focus on just that,” Bishop said. “But a lot of people like me, if you focus too much on it, you’re gonna get too stressed. You’re gonna commit too much time, too much energy, and then all of a sudden you’re not able to perform at the next level.”
As a behavior and neuroscience major, the strenuous workload would take a toll on anyone, but Rios-Colón thrives off the pressure. “In terms of investing myself into something else that I am personally extremely passionate about, it really keeps you grounded,” he said.
From a young age, Rios-Colón has had to jump through hurdles. In preschool, he was diagnosed with alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss. He quickly learned how to face his classmates’ curiosity while simultaneously blocking out the noise of being “different.”
He was raised by a single mother, which taught him how to be independent fast. As a kid, his mother, Lydia Colón, often called him a little old man in a little boy’s body. No matter what trials would come his way, her youngest son would always used take care of things himself.
In her household, Colón would say, “Well, this is a team. I can work. I have my job, I can do my best, but then you have your school. That’s what you have. You have to do your part, and I do mine…”
Those lessons have stuck with the 22-year-old into his adulthood. “He does his research on how to be the best he can be in both [sports and music] and knows his skill set limitations,” said Daniel Ireland, Rios-Colón’s coach.
That self-awareness, both on and off the field, has shaped who he is today. As he looks towards graduation, Rios-Colón reflects on the journey he’s had so far.
“I came to this school with the intention of being a student-athlete. And sure, there’s a lot of pressure with that position, but at the end of the day, I could achieve everything I’ve ever wanted, or I could get the exact opposite. The world is going to keep spinning,” he said. “We’re still going to get lunch afterwards. My mom is still going to be the same. And I think having that creative outlet for something that you’re passionate about, nobody can take it away from you. It’s really fulfilling, it’s really grounding. And it’s not like I care less about the sport, but it’s more so that I put less pressure on [cross country] being my identity.”
Rios-Colón doesn’t plan to ever stop running. He’s determined to represent his Puerto Rican heritage on a grander scale one day, perhaps at the Pan American Championships. But he also plans to make space for his music along the way. And what he’s most proud of? Not running away from the vulnerability of exploring multiple interests.
His mother says seeing her son reach for his dreams, “was like a culmination of things,” not just that the two worked so hard to make his accomplishments a reality, “but it was like our ancestors made their way for him to be there.”